Z-Risen (Book 3): Poisoned Earth Read Online Free PDF Page B

way and pulled his guns. Dori fell back and shot him a dirty look. A smattering of a language I didn’t understand ensued. He snarled an answer back at her. She turned away in disgust and moved to my side.
    “I can help?” she said.
    “I don’t think so,” I said, and jammed the wrench between a pair of bars.
    Joel shot something. Tomas shot something. I wanted to look, but forced my attention to stay on the task at hand.
    “Open the mouth,” Dori looked up at me from under dark curls.
    “Huh?”
    “I show you,” she said.
    Dori took the wrench from me and gently pushed into the spot I’d occupied, shooing me out of the way. She propped the head against the window jamb and then loosened the teeth so the span opened a few inches.
    “Help me. We put on bar, there, and we have leverage.”
    “Jesus,” I said, suddenly seeing it.
    “Jesus isn’t here, only the dead,” she said.
    With the teeth of the wrench stuck against the wall and the other part against the bar, I suddenly had something to work with. I grabbed the handle up high so I would get the most control, and yanked, putting my body into it.
    The bar popped off and the bolt hit the ground. I quickly worked at the next bar. One down, and too many more to go.
    Joel fired off a few more rounds.
    “How we looking?” I called.
    “The bodies are making a nice blockade out there. Door’s still not gonna hold,” Joel called back.
    Several somethings hit the door hard enough to rattle the dresser. Then they hit it again.
    Joel took a step back and unleashed half a dozen shots at the door. The ensuing thump of a form hitting the ground answered.
    I popped off the third bar and found the fourth to be a mother. Dori and I both worked at it for a minute, but it wasn’t moving. She guided me to another one. It came off with a nice groan, leaving just two more bars.
    Something pushed into the door again.
    Hands reached for Tomas.
    The window led to a backyard that was butted up against an apartment building. There was a small chainlink fence that ran the perimeter but several sections had collapsed, while others sagged. A few Zs roamed the yard, but nothing we couldn’t deal with. The trick, as always, was to take them out quietly. Cave in a few heads and avoid attracting a horde.
    Another Z had managed to weasel its way inside the room.
    Joel fired until the gun was empty, and set it down.
    “Where’d you put those .40 rounds?” he asked me.
    I wiped a line of sweat off my forehead and nodded toward my backpack. Joel unzipped the bag and dug around, pulling out boxes of ammo.
    The door rattled again and this time, the dresser was partially bucked into the room. Tomas shot something in the face, but another Z was right there to take its place.
    The last bar wasn’t budging. I was pretty sure Dori would be able to squeeze out of the room and maybe Joel Kelly, too, but I was stuck. Tomas was portly, so he wasn’t going, either. Maybe we could shoot out the wall and crash through. Maybe we could slither up into the ceiling after bashing a hole with my wrench.
    Both options were pretty far-fetched. With my luck I’d get halfway into the ceiling only to be dragged back into the room while a pair of Zs ate my legs.
    Dori looked over her shoulder, fear etched upon her face. She pressed the wrench head onto the last bar, but up high this time.
    Joel had a few boxes on the ground and he was going through them, but a whole lot of cursing accompanied his actions.
    “I’ll hold. You kick,” Dori said.
    “What if I break your wrist or hand?”
    “Take risk or we die,” she nodded toward the door.
    “Fuck it,” I muttered.
    “Exactly. Fuck it,” she said.
    Dori held the wrench low on the grip and then dropped down as far as she could. I lifted my leg and braced myself on the window frame. I put my foot up and pressed against the wrench. If I didn’t get this right, she’d have some broken digits.
    I pulled my foot back and then kicked the wrench handle, but